Southern Wayne drops South Central

GREENVILLE -- Southern Wayne hit everything in sight and South Central collapsed under the offensive onslaught as the Saints claimed a 17-7 win in the semifinals of the South Central/D.H. Conley Easter Invitational on Monday night.

Southern Wayne (8-6 overall) faces Wayne County nemesis Charles B. Aycock in the tournament finals tonight at South Central High School. First pitch is 7 p.m.

"We needed a win like this to give our guys some confidence," Saints head coach Trae McKee said. "We beat a good ballclub tonight and I am really proud of how our guys came out swinging the bats."

Southern Wayne opened a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

Tyler Gainey singled, Cody Davis singled and Kevin Wise drove in the first run of the game with a base hit. After one man was out, Taylor Brock ripped a double that plated two additional runs. Breyon Johnson and Taylor Gainey drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, and Ashton Cox reached on an error that allowed a run to score.

South Central committed eight errors on the night. The contest took three hours to complete, despite being shortened by the mercy rule in the fifth inning.

Southern Wayne added two runs in the second inning and three in the third before breaking the game open in the fourth.

Cox reached on an error, then Keith Jones singled and a pair of throwing errors on the play allowed Cox to score. Davis drew a walk and Wise was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Zach Grantham singled home one run and Brock plated two more runs with a base hit.

Taylor Gainey capped the scoring when he reached on an error and Brock raced home.

"We need to win some games like this because our pitching is still a work in progress," said McKee. "You can't count on scoring 17 runs every night, but we need to be able to win a few ugly slugfests."

Will Raynor started the game on the mound for the Saints and lasted 3 2/3 innings before giving way to Will Broadwell, who earned the win with one and one-third inning of relief.

Brock led the Saints at the plate with a perfect four-hit outing that included a double and five RBI. Grantham added four hits in five at-bats and three RBI.